Subsurface hydraulic pump installation



SUBSURFACE HYDRAULIC PUMP INSTALLATION Roy L. Chenault, Seneca, Pa., asslgnor to United States Steel Corporation, a corporation of New Jersey Application April 12, 1954, Serial No. 422,561

2 Claims. (Cl. 103-46) This invention relates to improved packer mountings for hydraulically operated subsurface pump installations.

Subsurface pump installations in oil wells and the like commonly include expandable rubber packers mounted exteriorly of the tubing and a cooperating series of up- Wardly directed slips below the packer. When the tubing is properly positioned in a well, the slips are released and they engage the inside of the casing to anchor the tubing and usually the pump itself. When the slips engage the casing, the weight of the tubing is applied to the packer and thus radially expands the packer into sealing engagement with the casing. The location of the packer and slips relative to the actual pump varies with different types of pumps. My invention is concerned with hydraulically operated pumps which are fixed to the tubing and which may be of larger outside diameter than the inside diameter of the tubing (as opposed to pumps of the so-called free-type). Heretofore it has been customary to use two parallel or concentric strings of tub ing within the casing to operate such pumps or to operate with a single string of tubing and a packer below the pump. The latter arrangement has disadvantages that the barrel of the pump and its hydraulic motor transmit the weight of the tubing to the packer and consequently is stressed unduly, and further that the fluid level in the well can drop below the bottom of the casing, whereby the pump cannot operate.

An object of my invention is to provide improved packer mountings which overcome the foregoing disadvantages, that is, they transmit the weight of the tubing to the packer independently of the motor and pump, they locate the packer and slips above the pump, and they eliminate the second string of tubing.

A more specific object is to provide an improved packer mounting in which the packer and slips are coupled to a special collar located above the motor and pump, and the motor and pump are supported at one location independently of the packer and elsewhere float with respect thereto.

In accomplishing these and other objects of the invention, I have provided improved details of structure, preferred forms of which are shown in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure l is a somewhat diagrammatic vertical sectional view of a hydraulically operated subsurface pump in stallation equipped with a packer mounting in accordance with one embodiment of my invention; and

Figure 2 is a schematic vertical sectional view showing a modification.

Figure 1 shows the lower portion of a well casing and a single tubing string 12 within this casing. A special collar 13 is threadedly attached to the lower end of the tubing and contains an internally threaded counterbore 14-, within which a further length of tubing 15 is attached. A hydraulic motor and pump combination 16 is attached to the lower end of the latter tubing. The motor and pump per se can be of any standard or desired construction, for example, as shown in my earlier Pat- States Patent ent No. 2,191,369, dated February 20, 1940, and hence are not shown in detail. The outside diameters of the motor and pump may be greater than the inside diameters of the tubing 12 and 15. The lower end of the collar 13 has an integral depending skirt 17 to which a packer coupling 18 is threadedly attached. A packer sleeve 19 is attached to the coupling 18 and at its lower end carries a nipple 20. The lower end of this nipple carries an adapter 21, which in turn carries a seating nipple 22. The outside of the motor and pump combination 16 carries packing rings 23 which are slidably received in the seating nipple 22. The interiors of the packer sleeve 19 and the nipples therebelow form a cylindrical chamber 24 which houses at least the upper portion of the motor and pump combination 16. The special collar 13 contains ports 25 which afford communication between this chamber and the casing 10. Nipples 15 and 20 may be extended as desired by adding lengths of pipe to locate the motor and pump unit 16 at any required distance below the packer.

The outside of the packer sleeve 19 carries an expandable packer 26 of rubber or the equivalent and a series of slips 27, which per se can be of any standard or desired construction. As known in the art, the slips can be latched to the sleeve 19, as shown in Figure l, for raising or lowering the tubing and pump, or they can be released into engagement with the inside of the casing for anchoring the tubing and expanding the packer. No showing is deemed necessary of the details of these slips and their operating means, but reference may be made to such prior patents as Meyer Patent No. 2,076,301 dated April 6, 1937, or Fulkerson Patent No. 2,323,989, dated July 13, 1943, for detailed showings of typical mechanisms which are suitable.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 1 the motor and pump are attached at their upper end with respect to the tubing and float at their lower end. Figure 2 shows a modification in which this relation is in effect reversed. In this modification a special collar 13a is attached to the lower end of the tubing 12 through an adapter 28 and a nipple 29. The special collar carries a packer coupling 18 which in turn carries a packer sleeve 19. The lower end of this sleeve carries a nipple 20, and the exterior of the sleeve carries an expandable packer 26 and slips 27. The special collar 13a contains ports 25a which furnish communication between the chamber 24 and the casing 10. The lower end of the nipple 20 carries a seat-- ing shoe 30. The upper portion of a motor and pump combination 16a is housed within the chamber 24. The motor and pump combination carries an enlargement 31 which seats on said shoe. A length of tubing 32 is at tached to the upper end of the motor and pump 16a and extends upwardly through the packer sleeve 19 and special collar 13a into the nipple 29. The special collar contains a packing ring 33 and a gland 34 which receive the outside of the tubing 32.

In operation of either embodiment, the tubing 12 and the parts connected thereto are installed in the casing 10, the slips 27 released, and the packer 26 expanded in the usual way. Power fluid for driving the hydraulic motor part of the motor andpump combination 16 or 16a is forced down the tubing 12 from the surface and reaches the motor via the additional tubing 15 or 32. The pump part of this combination draws fluid from the well. The well fluid and the exhaust power fluid blend and discharge through ports 36 to the chamber 24, whence they flow into the casing 10 via the ports 25 or 25a in the special collar 13 or 13a. The casing 10 serves to conduct the blended fluid to the surface. The expanded packer 26 affords a seal which prevents the fluid from flowing back into the well.

It is seen that in either instance only a single string of tubing within the casing is needed for operating the pump. The casing itself serves to transmit fluid upward ly from the well. In addition the weight of this tubing string is transmitted to the packer independently of the motor, and pump combination. The latter is supported at only one location and elsewhere floats with respect to the tubing and packer. The pump is located below the packer and the distance between pump and packer can be increased as conditions require by proper selection of tubing extensions.

While two embodiments of my invention have been shown and described, it will be apparent that other adaptations and modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A hydraulically operated subsurface pump installation comprising a casing, a single tubing through which hydraulic fluid is forced downwardly and which is located within said casing, a special collar joined to the lower end of said tubing, a packer sleeve joined at its upper end to said special collar with its interior forming a chamber, a packer and slips mounted on the outside of said sleeve and engaging the inside of said casing, a seating nipple carried by the lower end of said sleeve, a second length of tubing joined at its upper end to said special collar and extending downwardly through said chamber, a hydraulic motor and pump combination fixed at its upper end to the lower end of said second tubing to receive hydraulic fluid therefrom for driving the motor and housed at least partially within said chamber to discharge fluid thereto, said combination having a larger outside diameter than the inside diameter of said first named tubing, and packing rings on the outside of said combination and having sealing engagement with the inside of said seating nipple, said special collar having ports which furnish communication between said chamber and said casing to enable fluid to flow upwardly through the casing.

2. A hydraulically operated subsurface pump installation comprising a casing, 21 single tubing through which hydraulic fluid is forced downwardly and which is located within said casing, a special collar joined to the lower end of said tubing, a packer sleeve joined at its upper end to said special collar with its interior forming a chamber, a packer and slips mounted on the outside of said sleeve and engaging the inside of said casing, a motor and pump combination of larger outside diameter than the inside diameter of said tubinghoused at least partially within said chamber, and a length of tubing fixed at its upper end to said special collar and fixed at its lower end to said motor and pump combination to deliver hydraulic fluid thereto for driving the motor and to fix said combination with respect to said sleeve at one location independently of said slips and packer, said special collar having ports which furnish communication between said chamber and said casing, said combination being adapted to discharge fluid to said chamber and upwardly through said ports and easing.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,242,777 Coberly May 20 ,1941 2,356,423 OLeary Aug, 22, 1944 2,396,162 Dempsey Mar. 5, 1946 2,469,225 Dempsey May 3, 1949 

